John McEnroe defends Serena Williams: 'I have said far worse'

Many people, looking at Serena Williams's actions during the US Open women's final last week, remembered of John McEnroe who often argued with umpires during his career. Speaking on ESPN, McEnroe backed Serena, who called the chair umpire Carlos Ramos as a "thief".

'I've said far worse', McEnroe admitted. 'She's right about the guys being held to a different standard, there's no question.' The Australian 24-time Grand Slam winner Margaret Court said: 'We always had to go by the rules.

It's sad for the sport when a player tries to become bigger than the rules Because the young player outplayed her in the first set, I think pressure got her more than anything.' Meanwhile, speaking on Sky Sports News the former world No.

4 Greg Rusedski said: 'She was going after the umpire from the first game in the second set all the way through to when she was down a break 4-3, so from my point of view he did the right thing and you knew the referee was going to be very strong because of what happened with Nick Kyrgios earlier in the tournament.

Umpire Mohamed Lahyani came down from his chair and gave Kyrgios a pep talk, telling him 'I want you to do well', 'don't tank' and all the players were upset with that, so there was a strict law put in force for the rest of the tournament where chair umpires were not allowed to talk to players as well as following the code and that's what Ramos did throughout the match.' ALSO READ: Andre Agassi: 'I could not cope with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic'